Re: [dev] flo - a command line program for organizing events, to-dos, and deadlines

On Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:49:55 +0200
Alexander Teinum <ateinum_AT_gmail.com> wrote:

> Robert, what do you (and others here) think are the nicest date and
> time formats? Just curious.

For timestamps that must be both human-readable and machine-readable, I
just told you: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss-tz:tz (the fractional-second
timezone should be optional). (That paragraph wasn't entirely a
joke.) I hand-wrote timestamps in that format into my E&M lab
logbooks, with the uppercase T and numerical timezone (but no seconds,
I think; I can't write that quickly).

For date-and-time timestamps intended to be read *only* by humans, the
T can be replaced with a space.

I switched to 24-hour times years ago, when I couldn't tell whether I
was setting my alarm clock for AM or PM in its 12-hour mode. (Those
typically display either an AM indicator or a PM indicator, not both,
and you can't tell which one it provides unless it's showing. When you
need to know which indicator it provides, it's not showing.) I don't
think you really want someone who would have any trouble understanding
and using 24-hour times trying to use your software, anyway.

In regions that have ‘Daylight Savings Time’, it might be useful to
display the timezone abbreviation along with the numerical timezone.
In regions that have ‘Summer Time’, that won't help anyone.

Robert Ransom